Originally posted by EC8010 Wherever did you find a cow flying at 600 knots?

Bob is a rodeo pilot.
Best advice i can give you guys is never to drive on a no-speed limit highway in Germany. (or Japan at night)
When i was 10, my cousin did that trick on a deserted sunday morning highway and managed to shave half of his body and integral safety helmet off when Mr. Rabbit popped out of the woods. Asphalt is a great meat slicer at 170mph.

Just amazing what sorts of military secrets come out by accident. We cleared that 600 knot cow by a good 5 feet.

To clear up any confusion, that is an F-14 in my Avatar. Yes, that means I am an old guy - the last US Tomcats are retiring this summer. There was a bit of semi-good natured animosity between the F-14 and F-18 communities.

So, to aid in recognition (in case you visit Iran and see one flying there) here are the two aircraft:

F-14: My squadron, but in my day we didn't drop bombs.

F-18 Pretty good looking in Blue Angel colors. No, he wasn't supposed to go that low. I saw something similar at an airshow. the non-flying audience oohed and ahed at his precision. I thought to myself "He's not going to make it" saw the nose jerk up and the afterburners light. Nope he didn't do that one on purpose. Notice that the exhaust nozzles here are opening up - this guy has selected afterburner, but it hasn't lit yet. Yikes!

Originally posted by BobEllis
To clear up any confusion, that is an F-14 in my Avatar. Yes, that means I am an old guy - the last US Tomcats are retiring this summer. There was a bit of semi-good natured animosity between the F-14 and F-18 communities.

the F14 was the best 2-seater Grumman ever made.

i got my first scope surplus from Grumman back in 1978 (when I lived on Long Island).

I wish I'd taken that. It's been circulating on the web a while - I think it's a semi-official picture.

Judging by the condensation trails coming off the shoulders, he's just barely bottomed out. That's quite an angle of attack.

The maneuver I saw was also Blue Angel #6 doing a dirty roll on takeoff, retracting the gear as he goes. The top of the arc was maybe 75 feet. It looks great when done with a little more room at the bottom.

Of course I agree with you, Jack. Too bad Grumman "Iron Works" didn't have enough political clout to keep making whole aircraft.

In honor of the Hornet there was a T-shirt made up saying "One man, One bomb, One mission, One way."